Theology

Review: Nicaea for Today

/ rtrube54 / Leave a comment
Cover image of "Nicaea for Today" by Coleman M. Ford and Shawn J. Wilhite

Nicaea for Today

Nicaea for Today, Coleman M. Ford and Shawn J. Wilhite. B & H Academic (ISBN: 9781430091547) 2025.

Summary: The history, meaning, and contemporary significance of the Nicene Creed and how it may be used in churches today.

Why is a theological statement, a creed formulated 1700 years ago still important for the life of the church? That is the question Coleman M. Ford and Shawn J. Wilhite address in Nicaea for Today. The year 2025 marked the 1700th anniversary of the creed that emerged from an ecumenical council of bishops called by Constantine, meeting in the town of Nicaea, in Asia Minor. The authors argue that the Nicene Creed and its expansion, the Nicene-Constantinople Creed in 381 are not simply for those with an interest in early church history but of continuing value for the church, articulating shared essential beliefs grounded in the scriptures. At the same time, these beliefs serve as a guide for how we read the scriptures, particularly in understanding the person and work of Christ.

First, the authors unpack this historical context leading to Nicaea. They elaborate the challenge posed by Arius as a popular teacher in the church who asserted of the Son that “There was a time when he was not.” In other words, he was asserting that the Son was not co-eternal with God the Father and did not share the Father’s divine nature. Meanwhile, a huge transformation was taking place in the Roman empire with the ascent of Constantine to power and the new status he bestowed on the church. As the controversy with Arius grew, Arius and his followers appealed to Constantine, who called for the ecumenical council to meet.

In the next two chapters (3 and 4), the authors show how Nicaea addressed both the divinity and full humanity of Jesus. Pertaining to divinity, the Son was eternally begotten of the Father, not created, and he was consubstantial with the Father, of one substance. In other words, the Son is eternally generated by the father, a description not of beginning but relationship. As the Son, he was God’s agent in creation. That is, through him, all things were created.

Then the creed discusses how the divine Son became human, the Incarnate Son, adding a human nature to his divine nature in one hypostatic union (although this was not fully clarified until 451 at Chalcedon). Crucified, he bodily arose and ascended, from which he will return in judgment and victory. The authors include the seven two-fold patterns associated with Christ from Cyril’s Catechetical Lectures: two advents, two generations, to descents, two cloth coverings, two different postures, two announcements, and two judgments.

Chapters 5 and 6 then focus on salvation and sanctification in the creed. Only the Incarnate Son could save. He was both fully human standing in our place. And since only God could save, his work was fully effective to save. And because he arose, Jesus is our trophy over death. By participating in the life of the risen Christ, we are transformed increasingly into the likeness of Christ. The final transformation will be our resurrection.

Finally, chapters 7 and 8 address how we might use the creeds in our churches today. They address their use in baptism, eucharist, and the catechism of new believers. They also touch on use in personal devotion, corporate worship, and preaching. Lastly, they discuss reading the Bible Nicenely. That is, they serve as a faithful guide for exegesis. The authors elaborate this further in what they call partitive exegesis, using Philippians 2 as an example.

I appreciated the history and clear explanations of the issues at stake theologically for the Councils. In addition, each chapter opens with a pithy summary of the chapter’s relevance, “Thinking Nicenely Today.” Each chapter concludes the theological discussion with a “Biblical Connections” section and “Conclusion” that served as a brief chapter summary. The authors also provide reading lists of primary and secondary source material.

The authors succeed in their aim to show the relevance for the Nicene and Nicene-Constantinople Creeds for the church today. They offer clear explications for the value of the creeds for articulating core Christian beliefs. They show how the creeds can guide our reading of scripture. And they show how to fruitfully implement the creeds in our practice. This is a valuable resource for seminarians, pastors, liturgists, and adult educators.

_____________

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.

Review: Why I Am Protestant

/ rtrube54 / Leave a comment
Cover image of "Why I Am Protestant" by Beth Felker Jones

Why I Am Protestant

Why I Am Protestant (Ecumenical Dialogue Series), Beth Felker Jones. IVP Academic (ISBN: 9781514003008) 2025.

Summary: A Protestant theologian addresses the strengths, weaknesses, and contributions of Protestantism.

The Protestant tradition has fostered an emphasis on scripture that has but the Bible in the hands of every believer. Likewise, the focus on God’s grace in our salvation has brought great joy and freedom to many. But it seems that once Protestants broke away from the Roman Catholic Church, they have kept breaking into hundreds of different bodies. Likewise, putting the Bible into the hands of individual believers, while contributing to devotion, has also led to a welter of conflicting readings of scripture. The unity of the Roman Catholic Church and its doctrinal authority have been attractive to many frustrated with the divisions and interpretive chaos the perceive in Protestantism. Why, then, would anyone choose to be Protestant?

Beth Felker Jones was both raised in the Protestant tradition and teaches in a Protestant seminary. She makes a case that affirms Protestant strengths, acknowledges and addresses weaknesses, and does so in an irenic spirit that acknowledges solidarity with Christians in other traditions and the unity of the whole church under Christ.

Jones begins with by describing why she is a Christian. Surprisingly, she is unapologetic of growing up in a Christian home. She sees this as the grace of God (a theme that recurs throughout this book). She narrates the unfolding call of God, complemented by a growing appreciation of the beauty of our shared Christian faith, expressed in the creeds. Above all, she is a Christian because she has believed the good news of the gospel of Christ’s death for sin and resurrection to, and for, life everlasting.

Only then does she address why she is a Protestant Christian. Paradoxically, she claims she is Protestant as a way to embrace the true unity and catholicity of the church. She understands this catholicity as a gift from God through Word and sacrament. The focus on semper reformanda emphasizes the Protestant love for and humble approach toward orthodoxy. Emphasis on the solas emphasizes our salvation as sheer gift of God, not dependent on works, church, priests, or sacraments.

Jones goes on to describe how her Protestantism helps her in her Christian life. Belief in both God’s goodness and human sinfulness helps her understand brokenness both in the church and the world. The scriptures foster her intimacy and knowledge of God. Most of all, Protestant ecclesiology has been vital in her life. She writes:

“If God can and does work in corrupt places, who are we to limit the church to our own institutions and borders? If every historical church is riddled with sin, who are we to claim the rightness of our own churches? But if church is grace, then Protestant churches are church. More, they are church with the very important mission of promulgating the good news that church is powered by God and not by us. The church is the church by grace and not by institutional structures” (p. 51).

She believes this ecclesiology of grace is a crucial contribution that enables the church to face its own brokenness.

But grace doesn’t mean glossing over difficulties. Jones addresses individualism and fragmentation. While problematic, she observes that individualism and fragmentation are the fruits of modernity, and not confined to the Protestant tradition. However, this also allows for faith by consent rather than enforced by authority. She also proposes that interpretive complexity nevertheless acknowledges a center. Also, diversity of interpretation at the edges may offer a flexibility in mission. Indeed, the very fact of scripture in two languages assumes translatability, with the inherent differences that come with this. Jones believes all this calls us not into institutional order but deeper dependence on God.

I particularly appreciated her discussion of Protestantism’s strengths. She began with the idea of home–that our histories matter. Like Jones, I come from generations of Protestants–Presbyterian, Methodist, and Anabaptist. Then she focuses the remainder of this chapter on the riches of a theology of grace. This particularly evident in clarity in understanding of justification and its distinction from sanctification. She then turns to our hope for unity amid diversity–one font and one table. She carries this hope through in treating passages of scripture distinctively appealed to by Protestants.

My only critique in all this is I would have liked her to address what is particularly “broken” in our divisions and our interpretive pluralism and how we remediate these. That said, I thought her discussion of the greatest contribution of Protestants being our ecclesiology of grace a new idea. All told, Jones offers a strongly affirmative account of Protestants without arrogance or polemics. She models how one may be unapologetically Protestant while embracing believers of other traditions as part of one church. And it seems to me that this is how we might best approach the idea of ecumenicity that is the aim of this Ecumenical Dialogue Series.

You might also appreciate my review of the previously published Why I Am A Roman Catholic, by Matthew Levering.

_____________

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.

Review: Practicing Theology

/ rtrube54 / Leave a comment
Cover image for "Practicing Theology" edited by Miroslav Volf and Dorothy C. Bass

Practicing Theology

Practicing Theology, Miroslav Volf and Dorothy C. Bass, editors. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. (ISBN: 9780802849311) 2001.

Summary: Essays answering the question of what theology has to do with real life, how our beliefs translate into practice.

“But what does that have to do with real life?”

Miroslav Volf confesses that this is a question he is asked by students in his theology classes. I’d suggest that its also a question people out in “real life” wonder about. For example, consider those listening to sermons on Sunday and wondering what this has to do with Monday through Saturday.

The authors of the essays in this book are theologians who believe that the doctrine they teach do translate into “practices.” They define this as “patterns of cooperative human activity in and through which life together takes shape over time in response to and in the light of God as known in Jesus Christ” (p. 3). They unpack this in four sections.

First, in “Practicing Theology, Embracing a Way of Life”, the first two essays lay the groundwork for what follows. Craig Dyksta and Dorothy C. Bass articulate a theological basis for the idea of “Christian practices.” Their focus is to elaborate “how a way of life that is deeply responsive to God’s grace takes actual shape among human beings.” Then Amy Plantinga Pauw gives attention to the gap between beliefs and practices using the story of Jonah as a case study.

Second, “Practicing Theology, Engaging in Ministry” elaborates these ideas in specific practices. What is notable here are the diverse voices. Serene Jones describes translating theology into renewed vision for a United Church of Christ congregation. Sarah Coakley explores mystical and ascetic practices in the contemporary church context. Meanwhile, Tammy R. Williams surveys differences in healing practices within idifferent African-American church groups. Christine D. Pohl, who wrote extensively on hospitality, offers a reflection on the hospitality of the Open Door Community. Gilbert I. Bond studies the intersection of liturgical practice and ministry practice in Anabaptist and Afro-baptist churches. Finally, Nancy E. Bedford studies the practice of discernment in a Latin American congregation in Argentina.

But prior to ministry practice is the training of these pastor-theologians. Part Three focuses on this in three essays, the most significant of which is “Beliefs, Desires, Practices, and the Ends of Theological Education” by L. Gregory Jones. Specifically, Jones notes the disconnect between church and seminary. Often seminarians come from churches where they learned Christian practices but were fuzzy on belief. Jones argues for rigorous baptismal catechesis to address this. Then Reinhard Hutter connects God’s hospitality revealed in worship and doctrine to our practice of hospitality. Kathryn Tanner also explores issues of theology and the practice of hospitality in the concluding essay of the section.

Finally, Part Four consists of just one essay by Miroslav Volf on theology as a way of life. The essay draws heavily on a story of how his parents translated hospitality at the Lord’s table to hospitality at their own table.

I appreciated the diversity of voices, less common twenty-five years ago. I also was struck by how often the writers came back to the practice of hospitality and the profound gospel truth behind it of God’s hospitality. At the same time, for a book on practices, the reading at times was still somewhat abstract and theoretical–theologians writing for others in the theological academy. That said, the examples of translating theology into practice, and even the notion of practices which anticipates James K.A. Smith’s cultural liturgies is important work. Lastly, L. Gregory Jones challenge for us to grow in passing the baton from church to seminary to church in the formation of ministers is one still desperately needed.

Review: The Glory of the Ascension

/ rtrube54 / 2 Comments
Cover image of "The Glory of the Ascension" by W. Ross Hastings

The Glory of the Ascension

The Glory of the Ascension, W. Ross Hastings. IVP Academic (ISBN: 9781514010617) 2025

Summary: Sets forth this neglected doctrine that celebrates a completed atonement and the exalted glory of the Son.

The very best theology offers the attentive reader glimpses of glory. One cannot read without pausing in awe or breaking out in worship or humbling oneself before the Holy Triune God. This is one of those books. Often I could not read more than a paragraph without having one of these responses. Here is one of many examples I could cite:

“The ascension is beautiful also in that it is the climactic, celebrated outcome of an atonement that was fully accomplished and yet the beginning of the application of the atonement forever to the people of God in union with Christ. It is beautiful because of the symmetry of a humanity created and fallen in the first Adam with a humanity recapitulated, recreated, and glorified in the ascension of the last Adam. The ascension reflects a relation between the Son and his people, with whom he became one in the incarnation–his people who have died and risen with him and, more than that, are now seated with him in his ascended place in the heavenlies (Eph. 2:6)” (pp. 23-24).

W. Ross Hastings contends that we have neglected this magnificent doctrine. And he sets out in this book to remedy that neglect. To begin, Hastings lays out an argument as to why it matters. Specifically, he focuses on how the ascension represents the both the completion of the atoning work of Christ and the exalted glory of the Son at God’s right hand, themes to which Hastings recurs throughout the book. Then, Hastings outlines his methodology, rooted in divine revelation. He discusses both biblical and theological interpretation approaches.

Following this, Chapters 3 through 7 center on what the ascension shows us of the glory of the person and work of Christ. Chapter 3 focuses on the glory of Christ’s deity revealed in the ascension as the God-man. Then Chapter 4 follows the movement from glory concealed in Christ’s life and death on earth, and the revealing of even greater glory as risen and ascended One. He is no longer Messiah-designate but Messiah crowned.

Following this, Chapter 5 discusses his offices as Prophet, Priest, and King. We often think of atonement finished on the cross. However, the seating of Christ at God’s right hand, discussed in Chapter 6, signifies atonement fully accomplished. Not only that, as interceding high priest, we experience the application of atonement to humanity.

It is as God-MAN that Jesus ascended and is in eternal communion within the Godhead. In Chapter 7, Hastings considers the implications of this reality for humanity both now and in glory, as we share in the glory of Christ.

However, the idea of the ascension as the completion of atonement raises questions. Is the ascension itself atoning, as Douglas Farrow proposes, or the sign, the capstone of atonement completed? In dialogue with Farrow, Hastings contends for the latter in Chapter 8. Then Chapter 9 considers more fully the glory of the heavenly continuing application of the atonement through our participation in that work by the Spirit.

Ephesians 3:21 speaks of “glory in the church and in Christ Jesus.” Hastings elaborates in Chapter 10 on our experience of that through our communion with the ascended Lord in the Eucharist. Then Chapters 11-13 explore the last things: his coming again, the glory we will share with the Christ of the cosmos, and the glory of heaven.

This is theology to savor. We may ponder the many-splendored glory revealed in our Lord’s ascension. There is the incredible assurance of the completion of Christ’s atoning work. Then we might consider what it means that we are already seated with Christ in the heavenly places–what his exalted status means for our exalted status, both individually and as the church. And then there is our eternal destiny.

We are in the season of Lent looking toward Easter. The church celebrates the Feast of the Ascension on the Seventh Sunday of Easter, which in 2026 is May 14. Let’s not neglect this Feast nor this doctrine. If you get this book now, you have plenty of time to read, ponder, and prepare to celebrate this important day in the life of the church.

_______________________

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.

Review: God Looks Like Jesus

/ rtrube54 / Leave a comment
Cover image of "God Looks Like Jesus" by Gregory A. Boyd and M. Scott Boren

God Looks Like Jesus

God Looks Like Jesus, Gregory A. Boyd & M. Scott Boren. Herald Press (ISBN: 9781513815510) 2025.

Summary: In the life, ministry, teaching, and crucifixion of Jesus, we see the embodiment of what God is like.

Sooner or later, many parents have to answer, first, the question of “Where is God?” and then, often, the question of “What is God like?” This latter question is one many of us grapple with all of our lives, consciously or subconsciously. How we answer that question is vitally important. It shapes not only how we worship but how we live. Some may live under a cloud of guilt while others angrily deny God’s place in their lives because they don’t like what they believe God is like. Yet, still others live in the joyful security and outward facing generosity of believing they are God’s extravagantly loved children.

Gregory A. Boyd and M. Scott Boren advance a simple but profound assertion in this book. God looks like Jesus. If you want to know what God is like, God has definitively revealed himself in his Final Word, Jesus. This Jesus, incredibly, both fully God and man, humbled himself to live under human constraints. This includes the ultimate constraint of death on the cross. Indeed, all of his life was formed by and toward the cross, to bear the sins of a lost humanity. The authors call this cruciform life the “center of the center.” This leads them to propose that we read all of scripture with “cross-tinted glasses.” Thus, they would contend that all of scripture is about an points toward Christ.

But this raises the question of how we deal with scriptures in which God sanctions violence. Part of the answer is that we see in the cross God taking upon God’s self, the Incarnate Son, the violence and evil of the world to reconcile the world to himself. But this doesn’t erase the herem passages from scripture. Commendably, the authors neither rationalize nor try to minimize the actual extent of herem. Rather, they argue that Moses misunderstood God and commanded herem in God’s name. He cites Exodus 23:28-30 and Leviticus 18:24-25 to indicate God’s intent to gradually displace the Canaanites. But God’s non-violent plans were too radical for Moses, who didn’t get it and commanded violent conquest. In the end, God in God’s humility accommodates this. Thus, the authors preserve the loving, humble God revealed in Christ.

To me, this seems a bit of fancy exegetical footwork. It dodges the plain meaning of the texts. I appreciate the effort, because these are among the most troubling texts in scripture and they seem to contradict the portrait of the loving, humble servant God we see in Jesus. Yet, I think this portrait becomes a Procrustean bed that does violence to these violent texts. I continue to wrestle with these texts personally. The best treatment I’ve found is L. Daniel Hawk’s The Violence of the Biblical God (reviewed at: https://bobonbooks.com/2019/08/05/review-the-violence-of-the-biblical-god/). Hawk accepts that God-sanctioned violence is one of the “voices” in scripture and must not be glossed over but which ultimately (as the authors of this work also argue) takes violence upon himself and thus signals its end.

The authors move on from this to discuss the kingdom Jesus proclaims, and how cruciform love shapes it. Enemies are loved and love is extended in broadly inclusionary fashion to all those society, and often the church, would marginalize. They also argue that instead of the classical notions of God’s unchanging nature, the loving God we encounter in Jesus has passions and suffers. Finally, our ultimate hope is in a renewed creation where God does right by all that moves us to exercise God’s love for it in the present.

I found much to commend in this compact book. Especially, I commend the focus on Christ and his cross as central to the gospel message and our rubric for understanding all of scripture. And to understand experientially that the Christ we encounter in scripture reveals the God we may worship joyfully in Spirit and Truth–that is a gift! While I differ in the authors’ attempt at theodicy, I affirm the courage to address the signal objection to their thesis. I would commend Hawk’s approach, not cited by the authors. But above all, for those who struggle with what they think the God they believe in is like, this book cuts through the verbiage and says “look at Jesus and you will see what God is truly like.”

_______________________

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.

Review: The Journey of God

/ rtrube54 / Leave a comment
Cover image of "The journey of God" by J. D. Lyonhart

The Journey of God

The Journey of God, J. D. Lyonhart. IVP Academic (ISBN: 9781514009246) 2025.

Summary: A re-telling of the Christian story in six movements, exploring questions seekers, skeptic, and believers ask.

“Tell me a story.” Isn’t that often the longing behind our trips to the bookstore. I wonder, though, if that is our thought when we attempt to read the Bible. Do we open the Bible looking for a story? Or are we just looking for a pick-me-up thought? Then again, maybe scripture just baffles us. What is this book all about?

The Journey of God is an exploration of the Christian story. J.D. Lyonhart, a theologian and philosopher believes we desperately need books like C.S. Lewis’s Mere Christianity that help people see the Christian story and think about it in a fresh way, whether they are a skeptic or a seasoned believer. It’s been nearly a century since Lewis wrote for a very different time and culture. He sets the ambitious goal to fill that gap.

His description of the process of arriving at a title and how this made sense of what he was trying to do will also give you a sense of his writing style: thoughtful, yet witty and a bit edgy.

“However, I’ve slowly warmed to this new title, for the beauty of a journey is that it doesn’t need to be just one thing but can be many things spread over time and over many legs of the adventure. A fight scene with knives and lovemaking can be followed up by a philosophical interlude over a pint. As such, I’ve allowed each chapter in the book to feel a little different from the last. I’ve tried to dance between philosophy, science, poetry, romance, violence, history, historical fiction, comedy, drama, dialogue, and death, weaving them through various genres and styles into one mostly coherent, occasionally bonkers journey–less Sunday school, more Pulp Fiction” (p. xi).

Lyonhart unfolds the journey as one of six movements, devoting two to six chapters to each:

  • Movement I | Creation: Creation Begins • Creation is Not God • Creation is Good
  • Movement II | Fall: Humanity in God’s Image • Humanity Gone Wild
  • Movement III | Nation: Abraham Finds Faith • Moses Meets I Am • Goodness is Commanded • Beauty in the Promised Land • King David and His Boy • Justice Exiles the Nation
  • Movement IV | Redemption: Jesus is Born • Jesus is Walking Around Saying Stuff • Jesus is Dying to Meet You
  • Movement V | Church: The Spirit Arrives • The Church Begins • The Apostle Paul Converts • The Church Expands • The Church Today
  • Movement VI | End: The End of the World as We Know It • Highway to Hell or Stairway to Heaven?

The chapters average around ten pages. Typically, he will move from biblical narrative, such as the “earthiness” of the birth of Jesus, the meatiness or fleshiness of the incarnation, to discussing a Brene’ Brown video, to a personal story or theological implication. Or he will move from the expansion of the early church to our quest for love, affirmation, and identity. But its never preachy and often interspersed with self-deprecating personal stories.

At times he will be provocative, such as when he asks, “Does God have a penis?” I can imagine a child asking this and learning about the questions you don’t ask in church. He uses the question to introduce a discussion of what it means that humanity is in “God’s image.” Considering that our sexuality is an aspect of that image, the question is not that far out.

One of the most telling chapters the one on the exile of Israel as the expression of God’s justice. We tend to want justice when it involves the other guy and mercy for ourselves. However, Lyonhart presses home the objective reality of God’s justice–something we both want and wrestle with as we consider ourselves objects of God’s justice.

In the course of the book, I found all the elements Lyonhart mentions in his introduction. This conveys how all of life is connected to the journey of God and our journey with God. He exemplifies his contention that all God has made is good, and that Christ redeems all things. So, I can easily recommend this book to all the audiences Lyonhart writes for. He unpacks God’s story and show how all of our stories connect. And he does this with clarity and wit that invites us all to enlarged perspectives. I know that was so for me.

_______________________

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.

Review: Prayer Takes Us Home

/ rtrube54 / Leave a comment
Cover image of " Prayer Takes Us Home" by Gerhard Lohfink

Prayer Takes Us Home

Prayer Takes Us Home, Gerhard Lohfink, Translated by Linda M. Maloney. Liturgical Press (ISBN: 9780814688069) 2020.

Summary: What Christians believe about prayer and the various ways Christians pray and experience God in prayer.

Last year, I had the chance to review Gerhard Lohfink’s Why I Believe in God, which I named my Best Religious Memoir of 2025. His warm “theological memoir” filled with love for God motivated me to get my hands on other works of his. This is one of those.

The subtitle of this book states it is on the theology and practice of prayer. Lest you fear a dry disquisition on prayer, let me assure you I found the same personal warm of devotion in these pages as in his memoir. Here was someone who thought deeply both about the One he addressed and who clearly had devoted his life to prayer, aided by the structures of Catholicism.

He writes about Christian prayer, and that must begin with who we address. Rather than some generic “God” we address the Father through the Son and by the help of the Holy Spirit. He reminds us that we stand together in worship before the Living God, able to come face to face. We are helped in our prayers by the deep sighs of the Spirit. We do not pray to three gods, though we may address our prayers to each of the persons of the one Godhead, He encourages us that God is active in the world and that his “saving will and our prayers work together.”

Then he turns to the many forms of prayer. He reminds us of the different forms our every day speech takes and suggests that prayer is no different. He writes about petition, including a defense of asking God for things, praise, and lament. This last is a helpful corrective for “happy-clappy” Christianity. He explores the extensive material on lament in the scriptures.

I love how he introduces the Psalms as our home for all seasons, in joy and when beset by woes. They are our shelter, indeed our home, even as we make our way to Zion. He then gives instruction on meditation. This is not emptying one’s mind, but filling it with our story in scripture, in creeds, and the church’s prayers. For Lohfink, all this prayers us for the Eucharist. While this reflects a Catholic understanding, Lohfink’s discussion of the element of thanksgiving for the gift of God in Christ, manifest in the gifts of bread and cup, lifts us out of ritual into real communion.

The final chapter is characteristic Lohfink, in which he relates his personal history of prayer. His intent is not that we would follow his example. Nor does he want us to cram all the experiences of his life into our prayer practice. Rather, he wants to assure us in our own experience in both times of dryness and unspeakable joy. Here, as throughout, I sensed a brother walking alongside, not a superior speaking to novices.

Although I am not a Catholic Christian, I found much that spoke to my own prayer life. My heart was warmed by the greatness of God described on these pages and the awesome wonder of corporate worship and gathering at the Lord’s table. The chapter on Christian meditation is one of the best I’ve read. His encouragements that God is active and works in and through our prayers is truth I can never hear enough. He reminds me that in prayer, God takes us home.

Review: Athens and Jerusalem

/ rtrube54 / Leave a comment
Cover image of "Athens & Jerusalem" by Gerald Bray

Athens and Jerusalem, Gerald Bray. Lexham Press (ISBN: 9781683597728) 2025.

Summary: An in-depth survey of the parallel histories of philosophical tradition and Christian theology and their interactions.

I should lead off by saying that this book turned out to be something different than I’d expected. Instead of a critical analysis of the influences of philosophy on Christianity, this turn out to be more of a historical survey of both traditions, their differing perspectives, and interactions. That said, the survey offered by Bray is a highly readable one spanning the time from Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle down to the present.

Bray accomplishes that by a chronological history that begins first in Athens and the rise of the Greek philosophers followed by a history of Jerusalem and the Abrahamic faith of the Jews. Then Bray traces the intersection of both Jews and Christians with the Greek philosophers, first in Alexandria, and then with Origin. Following this, Bray describes the period from 313 to late medieval times as Jerusalem triumphant. Theological controversy demanded the systematic rigor of philosophy to clarify matters of doctrine. The high point of harmonizing philosophy and theology came with Thomas Aquinas.

The rediscovery of philosophical works in the Renaissance resulted in the rise of Neoplatonism and an increasing focus on human reason. For Protestants, Hobbes and Locke offered a kind of creed for civil society that opened the way for the secular, separated state. The longest chapter in the work treats the thinkers of the Enlightenment with its focus on rationalism. Often, this resulted in challenging Christian theological conviction. Some of examples of this are found in the works of Rousseau, Voltaire, Hegel, Marx, and Darwin. In addition, philosophers like Jeremy Bentham and john Stuart Mill promoted a pragmatic secularism.

So, we finally arrive at the present. Both biological and cosmological discoveries have led to a renewed openness of some to theism. In addition, Bray notes metaphysical premises that parallel theological convictions including an orderly and rational universe and the human ability to understand it, contingency, and more. However Bray seems more cautious than some when it comes to reconciling the two. He notes a basic difference of perspective. Theology begins with and focuses on God. Philosophy begins with human reason and lacks a fixed point of reference. He’s not without hope however and notes the work of Christians in philosophy.

What Bray offers is a highly readable yet in-depth survey of the history of the interaction of Christianity and philosophy. Summaries at the end of each chapter distill the main points of his survey yet further. We don’t get an in-depth critical analysis of the church councils and how philosophical considerations played into the debates and formulations. Nor do we study the synthesis of philosophy and theology in Aquinas and subsequent Catholic tradition. Some may also object to his summary treatment of philosophers.

What I would suggest is that this is a great first work to read, overviewing the landscape of the history. Of course, the interested student will want to zoom in on particular periods and people. It would have been helpful to have more in-depth bibliographies for each chapter rather than the brief “For Further Reading” at the conclusion. However, any student who has learned basic research methods can figure this out. This also makes a good reference work for pastors who need historical context if discussing a particular philosopher.

_______________________

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.

Review: An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine

/ rtrube54 / Leave a comment
Cover image of "An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine" by John Henry Cardinal Newman

An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine, John Henry Cardinal Newman (foreword by Ian Ker). University of Notre Dame Press (ISBN: 9780268009212) 1994 (first published in 1845).

Summary: Shows that doctrine has undergone development and provides marks of genuine doctrines.

One of the questions raised by many who are not Catholics is why the church affirms many doctrines that have no explicit basis in scripture. These include beliefs about the Virgin Mary, papal supremacy, and purgatory. John Henry Cardinal Newman, in 1845, penned what may be the best explanation of how these doctrines are genuine developments of biblical truth.

“Development” is the key word in An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine. He argues that while some of the doctrines of the Catholic Church don’t arise from explicit texts of scripture, they are nevertheless genuine developments from the scriptures. To make this argument, Newman devotes the first part of his “essay” to defending the idea that Christian doctrine has developed over time. Many things implicit in scripture were later brought out in the Councils and Papal teaching. And we need look no further than the doctrine of the Trinity or the doctrine of the Incarnation to see this is the case. But Newman holds this to be true of all the doctrines of the Catholic Church.

But how are we to distinguish the genuine from corruptions of doctrine? Newman offered seven “notes” or distinguishing marks:

  1. Preservation of its Type. This refers to the persistence of a main idea even though its external expression may change. Newman contrasts the egg to a fully grown bird as an example. He supports this note through a study of the first six centuries of the church.
  2. Continuity of Its Principles. As true doctrine develops, it never violates the basic principle of Christianity, of which Newman enumerates nine. Every heresy will violate at least one of these.
  3. Its Assimilative Power. Growing things depend on assimilating nutrients for their life. Similarly true doctrine develops in part by assimilating external ideas such as Greek philosophy that help it define more clearly what the church believes.
  4. Its Logical Sequence. In a genuine development of doctrine, a logical progression can be shown from biblical truth to the doctrine’s expression. For example, purgatory develops from the requirement of perfection to enter heaven. Yet many are friends of Christ who are not perfect and thus must undergo a purifying process before entering heaven.
  5. Anticipation of its Future. Essentially, this note proposes that there are hints to future developments implied in the earliest statements. Newman shows this to be the case with the idea of relics, the Virgin Mary, and the cult of saints and angels.
  6. Conservative Action on its Past. Genuine developments build on earlier ones, often bringing greater clarity. For example, the Nicene Creed clarifies and strengthens what is in the Apostles Creed. A corruption contradicts and weakens the earlier development.
  7. Its Chronic Vigour. Genuine developments endure while heresies die off. One example Newman offers is Pelagianism, which denied original sin and argued for human pefectability apart from Christ’s redemptive grace.

One of the strength’s of Newman’s work is to show how doctrines develop over time and to legitimize that process. This is important because all of us believe things not explicitly stated in the Bible. Additionally, his extensive arguments from church history help substantiate his case. At the same time, it seems, as an outside observer, a good argument to legitimate what is. And I could see some from Eastern or Reformed traditions using some of the notes to argue against particular Catholic doctrines. It also essentially brands Eastern Orthodoxy and the churches of the Reformation as embracing corruptions at their points of difference. Although Newman doesn’t explicitly say this, it is a logical “development” from his argument.

Newman’s Victorian prose is never an easy read. In this case, his lengthy discussions of church history risk losing the forest for the trees. One must keep the main contours and particular “notes” of Newman’s argument before one.

To sum up, this is an important work, not merely for Catholics but for all Christians. We may know that Jesus loves us “because the Bible tells me so” but not all that any of us as Christians affirm comes directly from scripture without development. Newman also helps us, whether we agree or not, to understand the Catholic justification of doctrines with which others may disagree.

But it also shows why it will be difficult to reach a doctrinal rapprochement that encompasses Eastern, Protestant, and Catholic churches. That does not mean we cannot strive for mutual understanding and charitable relations. But to be of one mind in doctrine seems to me to be part of the beatific vision. “ For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known” (1 Corinthians 13:12, KJV).

Review: The Phenomenon of Man

/ rtrube54 / 6 Comments
Cover image of "The Phenomenon of Man" by Teilhard de Chardin

The Phenomenon of Man, Teilhard de Chardin. Harper Perennial Modern Classics (ISBN: 9780061632655) 2008 (first published in 1957).

Summary: A synthesis of evolutionary thought and teleology culminating in a collective consciousness or Omega Point.

I recently reviewed (https://bobonbooks.com/2025/07/21/review-the-divine-milieu/) de Chardin’s The Divine Milieu in which de Chardin traces our growth in godlikeness toward the end of Christ uniting all things in himself. In that book, de Chardin attempts to integrate an understanding of evolution with Christian ideas. De Chardin wrote The Phenomenon of Man a decade later. In it, he elaborates his ideas about the evolutionary process and its telos in a uniting of all conscious, the noosphere in what de Chardin calls “the Omega Point.” He was not permitted to publish either book during his life, both being published posthumously in 1957.

The work is divided into four books. The first describes the origins of the material universe. One of the most important ideas running throughout this work is the inner and outer energies, mind and matter, that constitute all matter. The outer included crystallising and polymerising material.

The second book traces the transition of this material to living organisms from single cells to the expansion of life. He argues that this is not a random process but reflects the working of the inner “mind” through outer matter. Furthermore, life develops increasing complexity in “the tree of life” until the rise of consciousness in hominid.

Then book three traces the development of thought within the human race. Not only are humans self aware, but they also convey their knowledge to others. For de Chardin, this network of shared though results in a thinking layer, or noosphere, that encircles the earth. Consequently, humanity is heading toward a decisive turning point or choice, either toward stillborn destruction or to emergence as a kind of “supersoul.” Our collective consciousness culminates in a new level of existence.

Finally, in book four, de Chardin describes this new level of existence as “the Omega Point.” All the consciousnesses will become singular. Science, technology and religion will come together. Our instincts to survive and to love will come together.

A few observations. One is that de Chardin is hard to read. He creates words like involution and noosphere. A second is that most evolutionary scientists would reject any idea of a telos for evolution. Finally, for me, the most telling is that while de Chardin skates on the edge of orthodoxy in The Divine Milieu, he goes over the edge in this book from theism to panentheism, what he describes as “God all in everyone.” Gone from this book is the idea of God uniting all things in Christ. Rather, all things are united in the noosphere and evolves into a super consciousness.

I have seen an increase in interest in de Chardin in recent years. I can’t help but wonder if the advent of AI and ideas like Ray Kurzweil’s singularity are bringing de Chardin to renewed attention. Personally, I consider all of this as just one more version of humanity’s penchant for “tower of Babel” projects. I wish de Chardin had stopped at The Divine Milieu. This book is neither good science nor good theology but rather an exercise in speculative and wishful thinking.

___________

Thanks for visiting Bob on Books.  I appreciate that you spent time here. Feel to “look around” – see the tabs at the top of the website, and the right hand column. And use the buttons below to share this post. Blessings! [Adapted from Enough Light, a blog I follow.]